At least 74 people in Kentucky have died after a weekend tornado outbreak across eight states flattened homes and businesses in the Midwest and South.
Gov. Andy Beshear told reporters the death toll figures come from emergency management officials and may differ from what county coroners are reporting.
The governor said at a Monday afternoon news conference the numbers will move because “we have several of our towns in rubble.”
In addition to the deaths in Kentucky, 109 residents remain unaccounted for, Beshear said. At least 14 people have been killed in four other states – six in Illinois, four in Tennessee and two each in Arkansas and Missouri – officials have said.
Beshear said 95 National Guard troops are doing fatality and missing person searches.
“We hope that they don’t find them. We hope someone connects to them and they’re out there and we just don’t know where they are yet,” he said. “Maybe they don’t have cell service.”
Earlier he described the destruction, saying more than 1,000 houses have been obliterated and one tornado traveled at least 200 miles.
“When this tornado hit, it didn’t just take a roof off, which is what we’ve seen in the past,” Beshear said.
“It exploded the whole house. People, animals, the rest – just gone.”
